It's been a couple of years now since Dolly-Rose Campbell's Coronation Street character brought sign language to the scene in the ITV soap. Back in 2021, viewers saw Gemma Winter sign for the first time after one of her and partner Chesney Brown's quads, Aled, was diagnosed with profound deafness.
The couple were torn over whether their son should have an implant operation and in the meantime, Gemma started to learn British Sign Language (BSL) and sought the help of Freda Burgess and a BSL teacher called Charlie. But Gemma was later left horrified when Freda took Aled away after learning of the mum's decision over Aled's implant.
But after their worrying hostage situation, Aled later had the cochlear implant and late last year, Gemma and her mum Bernie, played by Jane Hazlegrove, staged a sit-in at her stepson Joseph's school when the teacher told him off for using sign language at school.
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And it's not just Gemma who has a passion for learning sign language as Dolly-Rose has also put in the work behind the scenes and is currently working on her British Sign Language Level 2 Certificate. "It's getting quite difficult but I am enjoying it," the actress, who has appeared as Gemma in Corrie since 2014, told the Manchester Evening News and other press.
Asked why she decided to learn personally to sign, Dolly explained: "For me, we were going to have a deaf actor on set as part of our family and he can't learn not to be deaf so it made sense for me or Sam [Aston] or Jane [Hazlegrove] to learn to sign so that we can help him when he needs help.
"The actor that we've got, his parents are also deaf so it's nice to be able to sit and talk to them when they bring him in for filming and just make them feel included."
She added: "It can be quite difficult sometimes for deaf people because the support they need is not always there and the more people that can sign, the easier it is for them."
On-screen, Gemma has also been seen signing when Aled isn't around, such as when behind the bar at the Rover's Return, and it was a conscious effort to include these moments in the scenes. "Because I was learning in real life, I learnt that is how you learn," Dolly told us.
"And because I was learning to sign, I have been able to add things that wouldn't have necessarily been scripted so there's been times when I've been filming a scene where Gemma and Bernie are talking but at the same time, I'll be having a completely different conversation with baby Joseph who plays Aled, in sign that's not related to the scenes. And things like that started to happen that I never would have known about if I didn't sign."
She added: "I had my first dream in sign language. That was fun. That was exciting. I was like, 'Oo, I am really learning it now because I had a dream in it.'"
Dolly was also quizzed on working with five children on the set of Corrie, with Chesney Brown being a doting dad to Joseph as well as the quads - Aled, Bryn, Carys and Llio - with Gemma. Asked what scenes are like to film with all the children, and if they are hectic, the soap star said; "Yes, yes they are hectic. It's a lot to have five children on set. Will's a bit older, he's been doing it for longer and he's getting used to it now but the four little ones cause chaos."
She then said with hesitation: "It's fun..." before adding: "Sam [Aston, who plays Chesney] is very skilled with children and I'm really grateful he is there."
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